Blu

Persona RP

@Destinyfailhorror17 Yes, if you want, you can reserve your Main Arcana know. Justice has already been taken just as an FYI and Arcana that are restricted from being a Main Arcana are Fool, Devil, Star, Judgement, and World.

Persona RP

@Destinyfailhorror17 It's possible but your character won't be too involved in battles if they're just pure support. But since all characters can carry multiple Personae, you can also have attacking ones to switch to at anytime.

Persona RP

Well, I've been working on the mechanics we'll be using in the RP and I'm surprised how much I've written in my attempt to be thorough. I'll post them here and you can decide whether they're fine or if you want to change/add/delete/simplify some things.

Personae

Each player character represents one Arcana which will be their Main Arcana (you have access to all Personae available within your Main Arcana). Each player character will also have two Compatible Arcana (you have access to the majority of Personae within the two Arcana).

Two (three maxed) player characters can have the same Compatible Arcana but this means they must share the same Compatible Arcana Compendium. The disadvantage of this is that Personae of the shared Compatible Compendium will be first-come-first-served (if one player buys a specific Persona first, the other player(s) cannot buy that Persona until the first player removes it from their party). The advantage, however, is that the players sharing the Compatible Compendium can unlock Personae faster since each time a player's Compatible Arcana rank increases, they can unlock more Personae for purchase in the Compendium. More players with the same Compatible Arcana = More Personae unlocks. If a player's Main Arcana is another player(s) Compatible Arcana, the Main Arcana player has priority over all Personae within that Arcana.

As GM, I will take on the role of the MC who possesses the Wild Card ability which grants access to Personae of all Arcana as Compatible Arcana. The MC is still subjected to the shared Compatible Arcana Compendium and Main Arcana priority still applies.

Personae Part 2

Unlocking Personae of your Main Arcana is easy: you automatically rank up your Main Arcana with story events.

Unlocking Personae of your Compatible Arcana is a bit more difficult. To rank up a Compatible Arcana, you must accumulate a set number of points (the points required may increase with each rank). To accumulate points, you have to spend your free time doing certain activities (look for the activity list further down in the OOC). Points gained and free time spent vary depending on the activity. When you gain points, you can choose which of your two Compatible Arcana to spend it on; you can even split the points as long as the split results in two whole numbers. Make sure you keep track of your points and ranking! Just below is the Compatible Arcana Rank and Points-Required list:

• Rank 1 (Unlocks 2 Personae; 3 Points)
• Rank 2 (Unlocks 2 Personae; 4 Points)
• Rank 3 (Unlocks 1 Personae; 5 Points)
• Rank 4 (Unlocks 2 Personae; 7 Points)
• Rank 5 (Unlocks 3 Personae; 10 Points)
• Rank 6 (Unlocks 2 Personae; 10 Points)
• Max Rank (Unlocks 3 Personae; 15 Points)

Upon ranking up (whether Main or Compatible Arcana), you can select which Personae you wish to add to the compendium that belongs to the specific Arcana you ranked up and I will have to approve your decisions. Since there is no level system, it is important that you select Personae which you think is most appropriate for your Arcana rank for my approval. If a Persona(e) is not approved, you can select another Persona(e) for re-approval. You can base your Personae choices on this list but you can also choose Demons not found in the Persona series and convert them to your Arcana (this second option is first-come-first-served meaning that once a Demon has been converted to a specific Arcana, they cannot be converted into a different one by any player).

Along with choosing which Personae you wish to unlock, you can also choose their initial skills. Ranks 1-3 Personae start off with 3 skills, Ranks 4-5 Personae start off with 4 skills, and Ranks 6-Max Rank Personae start with 5 skills. Like Personae, skills are subject to my approval so pick the skills you think would be the most appropriate to that Arcana rank. To add more skills to a Persona, you must sacrifice another Persona of the same Arcana. Ranks 1-3 Personae will grant 1 skill, Ranks 4-6 Personae will grant 2 skills, Max Rank Personae will grant 3 skills. You can also change or improve (Agi --> Agilao --> etc.) a Persona's skills by sacrificing another Persona of the same Arcana but you can only do so after a Persona has the maximum number of 6 skills. Ranks 1-2 Personae will grant up to 2 skill changes, Ranks 3-4 Personae will grant up to 3 skill changes, Rank 5 Personae will grant a skill improvement of 1 level (Agi --> Agilao), Rank 6 Personae will grant a skill improvement of 2 levels (Agi --> Agidyne), Max Rank Personae will grant the max skill improvement/max skill change (Agi --> Ragnarok or Agi --> Maralagidyne).

Compatible Arcana Personae that is unlocked by a specific player will be prioritized to that player for a two in-IC days (the day you rank up is counted as one day) before it is made available to any other player that shares the same Compatible Arcana. This rule does not affect the player who has the Arcana as their Main Arcana because they will always have priority.

Once your unlock decisions have been approved by me, I will set an initial purchase price for each Persona listed which you can then purchase in the Velvet Room. After the initial purchase of a Persona, its price will be lowered for future purchases. You can also register improved versions of a Persona(e) you may have in your party which will erase the old Persona(e) data (this will increase the re-purchasing price as well depending on the level of improvement that is present on the Persona(e) you register). Another player can re-register a different version of the same Persona(e) later once it's in their party but, remember, this will erase the old data and change the price so, as a common courtesy, discuss this decision with the player who registered the previous data.

Battles & Dungeon Crawling

The two most important things to know about this RP's battle system is that each player character will have HP/SP (improved through story events) and an attack's success of hitting is calculated with this (make sure to have it on-hand for battles). An attack will successfully connect if the die lands on the numbers 5-20 and will miss if it lands on the numbers 1-4. This means you have a 1-in-5 chance of missing an attack (the same rules apply to the enemy and if you battle an NPC(s) you control, you must roll for both your character and the enemy NPC(s)). Of course hit rate can be changed with certain skills (Sukukaja, Sukunda, etc.). I ask that you use this hit rate system honestly.

The amount of damage dealt by an attack is a fixed number decided along with the weapon/skill. For example: a Persona that has Agi that hits for 10 HP damage when it successfully connects. If an enemy is weak to a specific type of attack, the damage number of the attack is doubled and the enemy is knocked down (this also grants the player a "1 More" action). Downed enemies hit with the type of attack they are weak to will be subjected to a damage number multiplied by 2.5 (these rules apply for enemies as well). As you know, knocking down all enemies will give the opportunity for an "All-Out Attack" if you have at least 2 players participating in the battle (all players in the battle must agree to do this attack). The damage number of an "All-Out Attack" is the combined damage numbers of all participating players' strongest attacks. Like hit rate, damage number can be changed with Prayer/Mind Skills.

When a player character runs out of HP in battle, they "lose" the battle and will then have two choices. First choice is to escape which takes the player character out of the battle and is "revived" with 1 HP. In a battle with multiple players, the losing player can either sit out of a battle until it's over (another player can revive them if they have the appropriate item or Persona skill) or they can randomly sacrifice one of their Personae (if they have more than one Personae) to continue the battle. Whoever is leading the dungeon party and/or moderating the dungeon will get to randomly decide which Persona to sacrifice with whatever method they like. Winning battles earn players money and items but players who escape a battle or sit a battle out will earn nothing.

In the event of a group battle where a player(s) takes too long to post an action, their character(s) will be assumed to have defended until the player posts again. If that same player(s) doesn't post even after the battle is over, they will be dropped from future battles and dungeon crawling until they can post again.

There's not much to say about dungeon crawling. Story dungeons will be moderated by me, the GM, or if another player creates a story dungeon, they will get the chance to moderated it. Later on, mini-dungeons will be introduced to be explored on a player's own time alone or with other players. If you ever have an idea for a dungeon, story or otherwise, let me know and we'll hash out the details.

Free Time

Free time in this RP follows a day system. A day consists of 7 hours of free time (14 hours when there is no school). You can spend your available hours during free time doing activities to earn points toward increasing Compatible Arcana Rank, working part-time jobs to earn money, vising the Velvet Room, or exploring dungeons for money and items. Each one of the aforementioned endeavors will "cost" a certain number of hours and once you've ran out of hours, you can no longer make any posts until the next day in-IC. Each one will also require you to post at least one short post to describe your character doing the activity or you can stack activities into one larger post if you choose to.

There are three ways to advance to the next day. The first method is when I, the GM, decides to advance the day. The second method is when every player uses up all their available hours. The third method is based on the majority of players' decision to advance the day (meaning if most of you guys decide you want to advance the day). This third method is important especially when I'm not available to advance the day and if some players have not been posting anything for a long time. After you guys agree to advance the day, the next person who posts can go ahead and include the next day's date in their post.

If you haven't been able to keep up with the advancing days and if you're afraid that your character will fall far behind in terms of your Compatible Arcana Rank, when you can post again, activities you do will earn more points than usual until you can catch up to other players.

Persona RP

@Destinyfailhorror17 Welcome aboard :)

Nice to see character ideas are already forming. I can't wait to see the end results. The OOC should come along pretty soon since I just finished drawing the uniform design and the MC's initial Persona. If you guys are having trouble thinking of a Persona, you could use that Wikipedia list of fairy tales I included. Hopefully you can find something interesting. Remember that the Persona can also be based on folklore, legends, etc. Just no deity characters.

Persona RP

@Zendrelax Interest noted.

I'm currently working on the OOC.

Persona RP

@AquaAzura Jobs at one general location sounds good to me.

@Bleu Chess Money will be gained after battles but most of your character's income will come from jobs. Battles are more for rewarding items and equipment so it'll be important to prevent sitting out from a battle. As for the second issue: multiple people can have the same compatible Arcana but that means they will have to share their Persona compendium (for the compatible Arcana only) and if one person already owns a specific Persona, the other people can't access it until the first person removes it from their party. This will give you incentive to have different compatible Arcana. And if you have a compatible Arcana that is someone else's Main Arcana, then the Main Arcana person has priority on all of those Personae.

Persona RP

Okay, so to not make this RP into some sort of mechanic-driven grind fest, we could go with an unlocking system in which after a story event, a set of Personae from your main Arcana (let's say 3 or 4) will be unlocked for purchase in the Velvet Room (you'll determine which Personae will be unlocked and I'll set the prices). After the initial purchase, you can buy them again later for much cheaper. Personae of your other two compatible Arcana can be unlocked by doing certain activities/spending time with certain people? I don't know, what do you guys think? Money can be earned through part-time jobs which will take time away and impede you from doing other things that day. Also, enemies in a dungeon will be pretty strong and if you "lose" a battle, you can choose to either randomly sacrifice one of your Personae to continue the battle or sit out the battle.

So that's basically what I have in mind in regards to earning Personae. Any suggestions and/or additions are welcomed.

Persona RP

Bleu Chess and Pyromania99, interests noted.

So concerning Personae, would you guys prefer some sort of fusion system to be implemented or should characters just automatically unlock stronger Personae as the RP progresses?

Persona RP

Welcome aboard, Hexaflexagon.

Persona RP

An escape from reality or a descent into madness?

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Premise

Nichibotsu-ku - a largely independent ward of the nearby city of Hitome - harbors the prestigious Koden Academy: a private high school in which students live on campus. The school itself houses a variety of scientific facilities; the largest of which is dedicated to researching the geographical phenomena that is prevalent within this region of Japan. As a new school year approaches, strange rumors concerning Nichibotsu begin to circulate. One of the more prominent rumors is about a second library located somewhere within Koden Academy - a rumor that was quickly dismissed by the school faculty but is still making the rounds. Then there is a rumor concerning the massive forest on the borders of Nichibotsu. Residents warn about mysterious white-furred animals leading people into the forest and are never seen again. Finally, there are sightings of strange holes appearing out of nowhere at different locales throughout Nichibotsu. That particular rumor has piqued the interest of Koden Academy's geography committee.

You are a student of Koden Academy whether through good fortune, hard work, or inherent privilege, and you've been randomly selected to participate in a new experimental class that focuses on geography during the upcoming school year. Through a series of events at the beginning of the school year, you'll acquire the power of Persona that you must use to stop the advent of a global calamity that starts here in Nichibotsu. But do not worry, you are not alone in this fight. Your fellow classmates and friends, armed with the same power, will stand alongside you. When the line between reality and madness blurs, you must embrace both within yourself if you wish to escape intact.

Escapism

The overarching theme that we'll explore within this Persona RP is escapism. To roughly define escapism: it is the desire to distract oneself from the harsh and/or mundane realities of life. This is usually done through books, films, video games, etc. Our characters, who are attending a prestigious private academy, have certain expectations placed upon them and the strict grind of schooling leaves them feeling an overbearing sense of boredom and unpleasantness. Such a mundane existence would eventually drive anyone mad if they could not "escape" into other worlds even if only temporarily. I want this to be the drive for our characters and hopefully you'll be able to implement this theme into your character in an interesting and/or various ways.

Characters

As already mentioned, your character will be a student of Koden Academy. The main cast will most likely consist of somewhere between 6-9 people maximum because I want every character to feel important and integral to the story. The majority of the characters should be third-year students because the third year of a Japanese high school has an intense focus on preparation for college which should add to your characters' desires of wanting to escape reality. Each character will have a different animal mask which represents a "beautiful" memory and is the Persona summoning method (you hold the mask in front of your face or it automatically forms over your face as you call upon your Persona). Also, each character uses a different weapon in battle.

There will be an MC, or avatar character, primarily controlled by me, the GM. However, at certain key story points, you guys, the participants which excludes me, will be able to vote and choose what action the MC will take during these events and those decision will greatly affect the plot which extends to the ending (hopefully we'll get there). Also, as the MC, I'll do my best to make him a more quiet character as per tradition in the Persona games. Finally, if you guys want, you'll be able to vote on a name for the MC.

Picture of the MC

Personae & Arcana

Since the theme is escapism, our characters' initial, and later prime, Personae are based on characters from fairy tales, folklore, stories, poems, etc. If you want, you can use this list to look for characters to base your initial Persona off of. Each player character will represent an Arcana in which they will have full access to every Persona within that Arcana for fusion and the likes (we have to discuss whether we'll use a fusion system or not). Then, you can select two more Arcana classes that your character is compatible with which you will have access to the majority of Personae within those classes. This does not affect the MC since he'll have the power of the Wild Card. Initially, every character will only be able to hold five Personae.

Dungeons in this RP will also be based on fairy tales and such. If you have dungeon ideas, let me know or I could even put up a dungeon sheet but I think the former method would be less of a hassle.

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So this is just a general overview of the RP. Topics such as world building, combat, and whatever else you can think off is up for discussion.